Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under security law

Hong Kong police said in a statement that seven people had been arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law, but did not reveal the names of those arrested

An aide to Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai says Lai was arrested Monday morning under the city’s national security law on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers. Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time, Mark Simon wrote on Twitter.

Hong Kong police said in a statement that seven people had been arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law, but did not reveal the names of those arrested. Lai, who owns popular tabloid Apple Daily, is an outspoken pro-democracy figure in Hong Kong and regularly criticizes China’s authoritarian rule. Simon said that police searched both Lai and his son’s home, as well as other members of media group Next Media, which Lai founded.

‘Freedom loving people of Hong Kong would prevail’: Pompeo slams at China

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Friday that the Legislative Council elections scheduled for September 6 will be postponed over the COVID-19 threat

Condemning the delay in legislative elections in Hong Kong, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said the only reason for the postponement is Beijing’s fear that Chinese Communist Party candidates would be crushed.

“COVID-19 is not the reason for the delay in the election. The reason for the delay – there was scheduled to be an election in Hong Kong on September 6th. The reason for the delay is that the Chinese Communist Party candidates would be crushed, and the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong would prevail, and the leadership in Beijing simply can’t permit that to happen,” Pompeo told Fox News.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Friday that the Legislative Council elections scheduled for September 6 will be postponed over the COVID-19 threat. “Look, this is part of what we’re seeing happen all across the threat from the Chinese Communist Party: increased denial of freedom for people in their own country; and then extending that now to people outside of their country. That national security law can be applied to people all across the world,” The Us Secretary of State said.

=Hong Kong’s biggest protest in months may be a trailer for the year 2020

Companies have got caught in the middle of the protests. Chinese retailers and branches of lenders like Bank of China Ltd have been ransacked by vandals

Hong Kong saw its biggest pro-democracy protest in months Sunday, signaling more unrest to come in 2020 as the movement that began in June to fight China’s increasing grip on the city shows its staying power.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded the city’s major downtown boulevards, many waving US flags, singing “Glory to Hong Kong” and chanting “Five demands, not one less.” The march drew a cross-section of Hong Kong society — from parents with young kids to senior citizens — and was largely peaceful throughout the afternoon, although tensions emerged between riot police and some radical demonstrators at night.

Protesters calls to disrupt the Monday commute and workday, however, hadn’t materialized as of late morning. The Sunday rally was the first organized by the Civil Human Rights Front to get police approval since August, prompting many Hong Kong residents who normally wouldn’t risk joining an illegal assembly to hit the streets. The organizer said about 800,000 were at the rally, while police estimated 183,000 joined at the peak of the protest. The show of strength followed a landslide victory for pro-democracy forces in local elections last month.

“Yet another breathtaking display of Hongkongers’ political might,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker who joined the march on Sunday. “By now it’s obvious the Hong Kong fight will go on, we will soldier on,” she said. “This may last for the generations to come.”

China plans to replace Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam as protests drag on: Report

The pro-Beijing leader has faced sustained criticism from protesters in the semi-autonomous city

International News: Beijing is drawing up a plan to remove Hong Kong’s beleaguered chief executive Carrie Lam, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, after nearly five months of pro-democracy unrest.

The pro-Beijing leader has faced sustained criticism from protesters in the semi-autonomous city. So far the central government in Beijing has given its support to her and the Hong Kong police, calling the demonstrators “rioters” and condemning the violence.

But according to the FT report, which quoted unnamed figures briefed on the deliberations, the Chinese government is drawing up a plan to replace her with an interim chief executive. However, sources told the newspaper that the plan would be dependent on the situation in the city first stabilising so that Beijing is not seen as giving in to violence.

Lam’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.Hong Kong has now been battered by 20 weeks of protests and with no political solution in sight, clashes have intensified each month. Earlier this month, Lam — who has refused to grant any major concessions to protesters — invoked a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks, setting off a new wave of protests and vandalism that shut down much of the city’s transport network..

Hong police fire tear gas and water cannon as crowds defy rally ban

Authorities had forbidden the march in Tsim Sha Tsui, a densely-packed shopping district filled with luxury boutiques and hotels, citing public safety and previous violence from hardcore protesters

Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas on Sunday as crowds held an illegal march, with hardcore protesters throwing petrol bombs and trashing busineses, capping a week of anger after the recent stabbing and beating of two pro-democracy protesters.

Authorities had forbidden the march in Tsim Sha Tsui, a densely-packed shopping district filled with luxury boutiques and hotels, citing public safety and previous violence from hardcore protesters. But tens of thousands joined the unsanctioned rally regardless, showing the movement can still keep pressure on the city’s pro-Beijing leaders after nearly five months of Hong Kong Protest  and political unrest.

In a familiar pattern, the huge rally began peacefully. But it soon descended into chaos as smaller groups of hardcore protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, subway entrances and at Chinese mainland bank branches as well as vandalising multiple shops.

Police responded with repeated volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges. Throughout the afternoon a water cannon truck chased protesters down Nathan Road, one of the city’s busiest shopping thoroughfares, leaving it streaked with blue dye from the vehicle’s turrets.

The dye, used to identify protesters, also contains a painful pepper solution. As the protesters fled the streets, frontliners stayed behind to slow the advance of riot police, setting fire to makeshift barricades. Tensions were running high after the leader of the group organising the weekend rally, Jimmy Sham, was hospitalised by men wielding hammers earlier in the week…

A long list of economic problems await Hong Kong. How they can be fixed

Many in the city question the political will of Hong Kong’s government officials to take bold, aggressive action in a range of policy areas

Past Hong Kong’s present political strife, a considerable rundown of monetary issues anticipate the city’s present and future rulers. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s CEO, on Wednesday uncovered in excess of 220 activities in lodging, land supply and vocation support, in an acknowledgment that monetary arrangement has a task to carry out in lightening a portion of the city’s disappointments. She additionally recognized that Hong Kong entered a downturn in the second from last quarter and cautioned of a “phenomenal” financial test.

That is a beginning, however onlookers state the long-standing development model – as a low-charge, low-guideline entrepot for money and exchange – has turned into a component in the political turmoil, as opposed to the fundamental arrangement.

Immense salary imbalance, markets constrained by insiders and a spiraling average cost for basic items – particularly of lodging – are at this point signs of Hong Kong‘s image of private enterprise, close by the “world’s freest economy” name perpetually granted by The Heritage Foundation, a preservationist inclining U.S. arrangement gathering.

From utilizing the city’s monetary capability to breaking the strength of aggregates and increasing the expectation of open offices, there exists a scope of proposition from business analysts and different specialists for a path forward. In certain regions, the administration is now pushing forward. In others, a principal move – and the political accord to make it – is required....

Hong Kong metro partially reopens after a weekend of violent protests

Violent protests had erupted across the city soon after embattled leader Carrie Lam invoked the colonial-era powers to order the ban in hopes of curbing months of un

Hong Kong’s rail operator reopened part of its metro system on Sunday after an unprecedented shutdown, but kept many typically busy stations closed, as the Chinese-ruled city braces for large demonstrations expected later in the day.

Participants in two major protests, one on the island and another on the Kowloon peninsula, are expected to defy a ban on face masks that took effect at midnight on Friday, hours after embattled leader Carrie Lam invoked emergency powers. Violent protests had erupted across the Asian financial centre soon after Lam wielded the colonial-era powers for the first time in more than 50 years to order the ban in hopes of curbing months of unrest.

The night’s “extreme violence” justified the use of the emergency law, Beijing-backed Lam said on Saturday, when the city felt eerily quiet, with the subway and most shopping malls closed and many roads deserted. Despite the closure of the metro, which carries about 5 million passengers a day, hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets, defying the ban on face masks, but had largely dispersed by evening.

Hong Kong’s protests have plunged the city into its biggest political crisis in decades, posing the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power. “These extreme radicals have rampant arrogance and behave vilely,” China’s representative Liaison Office in Hong Kong said on Sunday, denouncing Friday’s destruction of one of its buildings by “extremist militants”….

Read More: Hong Kong Protest

In Hong Kong’s leaderless protests, officials don’t know who to talk to

The lack of a clear leader is one of the main reasons the protests have carried on this long and show no end in sight

As a top adviser to Hong Kong’s government, Bernard Chan is searching for any protester who can strike a deal to end more than three months of unrest. In lunches with demonstrators and chats with friends who oppose the government, Chan often hears that the protests would stop if leader Carrie Lam even met two of the five demands. But nobody he meets can guarantee him that others will no longer hit the streets even after she formally withdrew a bill allowing extraditions to China that kicked off the protests in June.

“You alone stopping is not enough — who am I negotiating with?” Chan said in an interview on Friday, before the latest weekend clashes. “I can’t even convince the government to come to the table because they don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

The lack of a clear leader is one of the main reasons the protests have carried on this long and show no end in sight. For demonstrators, that’s by design: During the 2014 Occupy protests, the government was able to arrest key leaders and throw them in jail. Now the groups guard their anonymity and organize in online platforms like Telegram and LIHKG that are difficult to track..

Read More: Hong Kong Protest

Hong Kong tells US to stay out; students form human chains in support

Hong Kong’s government expressed regret over the US bill, known as the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act

Thousands of students formed human chains outside schools across Hong Kong on Monday to show solidarity after violent weekend clashes to push for democratic reforms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. The silent protest comes as the Hong Kong government condemned the “illegal behavior of radical protesters” and warned the US to stay out of its affairs.

Thousands of demonstrators held a peaceful march Sunday to the US Consulate to seek Washington’s support, but violence erupted later in the day in a business and retail district as protesters vandalized subway stations, set fires and blocked traffic, prompting police to fire tear gas. Hong Kong’s government agreed last week to withdraw an extradition bill that sparked a summer of protests, but demonstrators want other demands to be met, including greater democracy.

Protesters in their Sunday march appealed to President Donald Trump to “stand with Hong Kong” and ensure Congress pass a bill that proposes economic sanctions and penalties on Hong Kong and China officials found to suppress democracy and human rights in the city.

Hong Kong’s government expressed regret over the US bill, known as the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. It said in a statement Monday that “foreign legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs” of Hong Kong. The government said it was “very much in Hong Kong’s own interest to maintain our autonomy to safeguard our interests and advantages under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle” after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997…

Read Full Story: Hong Kong Protest

Hong Kong protesters wave US flags, urge Trump to ‘liberate’ their city

Hong Kong has been rocked by a summer of unrest kicked off by a proposed law that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial

Hong Kong Protest: Demonstrators in Hong Kong marched to the US Embassy on Sunday, urging President Donald Trump to “liberate” their city as they press for more democratic freedom in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Thousands of people converged at a park in central Hong Kong, chanting “Resist Beijing, Liberate Hong Kong.” Many of them, clad in black shirts and wearing masks, waved American flags and carried posters that read “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong.”

Riot police stood watch as they began their march to the nearby US Embassy. “Hong Kong is at the forefront of the battle against the totalitarian regime of China,” said Panzer Chan, one of the organisers of Sunday’s march. “Please support us in our fight.”

Hong Kong has been rocked by a summer of unrest kicked off by a proposed law that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Many saw the extradition bill as a glaring example of the Chinese territory’s eroding autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997….

From KPMG to Cathay, China warns global CEOs to fall in line on Hong Kong

Cathay, Hong Kong’s flagship airline, has become a symbol of what happens when a company is judged to have crossed China’s red lines

As anti-government protests in Hong Kong intensified this month, KPMG issued a directive to its employees in the city: Don’t speak on behalf of the company in public. It went on to say that the firm supports China’s policy for governing Hong Kong. PwC, another Big Four accounting giant, sent a similar message to staff telling them to avoid disclosing anything about the company on social media platforms, according to emails seen by Bloomberg.

This is the new reality for multinational businesses that have long grappled with a thorny question on China: What’s the price of access to Asia’s biggest economy? Beijing’s response to the hong kong protests, most notably its clampdown on Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd this month, has provided one answer: compliance with the Communist Party’s worldview, from senior management on down.

“The Chinese government doesn’t see business as being separate from the state and it has made it clear that if you want to do business in China, you’d better toe the line,” said Steve Vickers, chief executive officer of political and corporate risk consultancy Steve Vickers & Associates, and the former head of the Royal Hong Kong Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau….

Hong Kong leader setting up communication platform to help end protest

The movement held a massive but peaceful rally on Sunday after earlier protests had been marked by violence

Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said she hoped “calm” will prevail after a massive weekend march passed without clashes between police and demonstrators, but again refused to give ground to protester demands.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the heart of the city on Sunday in a show of peaceful protest after escalating street battles with police drew stark warnings from Beijing and threatened to undermine public support. “On Sunday, many Hong Kong residents participated in a rally at Victoria Park that was largely peaceful,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a televised press conference.

“I wholeheartedly hope that this is the beginning of society returning to calm and staying away from violence.” The hong kong  protests began against a proposed extradition law to China but morphed into a pro-democracy movement sparking the city’s biggest political crisis in decades. They have been fuelled by anger over alleged police brutality, with tear gas and rubber bullets deployed against protesters. Lam reported 174 complaints have been made against police since protests began.

She said they would be “robustly” investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Council, whose head is appointed by the chief executive. However, the probe is unlikely to satisfy protesters who have called for an independent inquiry by an external body..

Hong Kong protests: China’s trillion reasons for maintaining the status quo

Hundreds of China-domiciled companies are listed in Hong Kong, including national leaders such as Tencent Holdings Ltd and CNOOC Ltd\

International News: Hong Kong’s ties with mainland China have never appeared more fragile, as protesters demand greater freedoms while Beijing expresses frustration at the turmoil. Amid rising tensions, there are concerns that Chinese authorities may take direct action to quell the unrest.

But the two economies have become so financially intertwined that officials have powerful incentives to preserve the status quo. The former British colony has been a key source of offshore funding for Chinese companies for more than two decades, and the inflow of cash and business from the world’s second-largest economy has greatly benefited the city.

Here’s a look at how much the two markets have come to rely on each other:

Hong Kong is the biggest offshore market for China’s state-run banks, which have about 7% of their total assets in the city. Bank of China Ltd, whose BOC Hong Kong Ltd unit is one of the city’s three note-issuing banks, derives about a fifth of operating income from Hong Kong and nearby Macau.

Chinese companies, especially cash-strapped property developers and local government financing vehicles, use Hong Kong to issue billions of dollars in debt, despite the higher borrowing costs demanded by international investors….Read More

Hong Kong gears up for more unrest; China’s forces hold drills along border

Hong Kong’s airport, one of the world’s busiest, was returning to normal but under tight security after thousands of protesters had jammed its halls during the week

Hong Kong braced on Thursday for more mass demonstrations through the weekend, as China again warned against foreign interference in the city’s escalating crisis as mainland paramilitary forces conducted exercises just across the border.

Western governments, including the United States, have stepped up calls for restraint, following ugly and chaotic scenes at the city’s airport this week, which forced the cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights and saw protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathisers.

The airport, one of the world’s busiest, was returning to normal but under tight security after thousands of protesters had jammed its halls on Monday and Tuesday nights, part of a protest movement Beijing has likened to terrorism.

Across a bridge linking Hong Kong’s rural hinterland with the booming mainland city of Shenzhen, hundreds of members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police conducted exercises at a sports complex in what was widely seen as a warning to protesters in Hong Kong. The police could be seen carrying out crowd-control exercises, and more than 100 dark-painted paramilitary vehicles filled the stadium’s parking lots….

Hong Kong airport on alert as anti-govt activist gear up for 3-day rally

The move comes as officials confirmed on Friday that a police commander who oversaw pro-democracy demonstrations was recalled to deal with protests

International News: Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said on Friday only departing passengers with travel documents will be allowed to enter the terminal as anti-government activists gear up for a three-day rally to raise awareness among tourists entering the city.

The move comes as officials confirmed on Friday that a police commander who oversaw pro-democracy demonstrations that roiled the former British colony in 2014 has been recalled to help deal with protests that have plunged the financial hub into crisis.

Former deputy police commissioner Alan Lau Yip-shing has been appointed to help handle large-scale public order events and steer operations, including activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, the government said in a statement.

Reuters reported late on Thursday, citing sources, that Lau had been recalled in a move that suggests the government lacks confidence in the capacity of the current police leadership to manage the response to protests.

Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, is embroiled in its worst political crisis for decades after two months of increasingly violent Hong Kong  protests that have posed one of the gravest populist challenges to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he took office in 2012.The escalating cycle of violence has prompted travel warnings from countries including the United States and Australia. Activists plan to converge on the airport on Friday afternoon, with more protests planned across the city at the weekend.

‘Prepared to die’: Hong Kong protesters embrace hard-core tactics

Hong Kong’s protests against the mainland government’s increasing reach are emerging as bigger, more frequent and more violent than previous pro-democracy movements.

International News: In 2014, a protester named Chloe camped out on city streets, chanted slogans and planted “seeds of hope,” part of a 79-day occupation of major roads. The protesters’ demands for greater democracy were ignored.

This summer, the civil servant, who is in her 20s, has zip tied metal barriers together to block roads and dug bricks out of sidewalks to throw at police. Her primary role is to be “arrest support”—ready to hire lawyers for detained protesters and help their families with an emergency plan. “Some of them are prepared to die for the movement,” said Chloe. “I am also willing to die for it.”

Hong Kong’s protests against the mainland government’s increasing reach are emerging as bigger, more frequent and more violent than previous pro-democracy movements. In a contrast to 2014, when demonstrations were largely led by students, the current action has been embraced by a broader cross-section of Hong Kong society—including civil servants, pop stars, doctors, shopkeepers and people of all ages. And those taking part in more radical acts of civil disobedience are finding wider support.

Hard-core current protesters have largely rejected the strategies of veteran leaders, whose approach is seen to have failed. Actions are mostly organized by anonymous leaders of small groups. In 2014, named student leaders became well known figures. The shift in attitude means Hong Kong’s resistance has become the biggest open rebellion against China’s ruling Communist Party since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012…

Hong Kong protests have residents plotting their exit to Canada, Australia

In Canada, the surge in migration inquiries is reminiscent of the late 1990s in the run up to the handover of Hong Kong to China

At the point when Kevin Tsang tuned into Carrie Lam’s predawn question and answer session to censure dissenters who had stripped government workplaces during an emotional acceleration of strains over Hong Kong Protest removal charge, he didn’t care for what he heard.

To such an extent, that the 25-year-old surveyor is presently considering emigrating to Australia. Lam, the city’s CEO, evaded questions whether she could confront the groups of three individuals who had carried out suicide to dissent the bill, which would enable criminal suspects to be removed to the territory and is viewed as a further disintegration of the city’s freedom from Beijing.

“Individuals yielded themselves to make their voices heard, however she just maintained a strategic distance from the inquiries,” he said. “In the event that the vote based system, opportunity we have now would remain unblemished, I wouldn’t consider leaving by any means, all my family and companions are here. However, nature gives me an inclination that in the event that I state something incorrectly, I might be captured.”

He’s not the only one. Indeed, even with the bill retired, long stretches of mass challenges and some of the time brutal police conflicts in the city have seen resettlement request flood, as indicated by meetings with relocation specialists, dealers and bookkeepers. At Goldmax Immigration Consulting Co, request and applications have bounced 20 percent since May, said Margaret Chau, a movement program chief at the firm.